Okay. So there was this lake way out in the wilds. And in the middle of the lake was a small island. People started hearing rumors that there was this amazing Mystic living on this island, a holy man.
The church fathers heard about it and they were concerned. They decided they’d better go check it out. So they go way out in the wilds. They have a boat, and they get on the boat and they paddle themselves out to the island.
On the island they find this scruffy old guy. He was uneducated, but he had a certain glow about him. So they were curious.
They asked him, “We hear rumors that you’re this amazing Mystic.”
The guy answers and says, “Well I don’t know about that.”
The Church Fathers decided to test him so they asked, “Show us how you pray?”
The old man answered slowly, “Well. I don’t know much about praying. Nobody’s ever taught me how to pray.”
The church fathers said, “Show us anyway. Show us the way that you are praying so that we can see.”
The guy sits silently for a bit and says, “The only thing I know to do is to simpy look at the beauty around me and say, “Oh existence! You are so beautiful, and so kind to contain a person such as me. Thank you. I bow before you.”
The church fathers laughed and said “looked at him and said, “That’s not a prayer! That’s all wrong. We don’t have a prayer anything like that.”
The fellow says, “I am so sorry. Show me how to do it right.”
So they sat down and they taught him this incredibly complicated prayer. He tried it a couple of times. The church fathers thought he was doing pretty good and were satisfied with themselves. We’ve done our job here!
They all get back in the boat and they head off across the lake. As they’re paddling across this big lake and they kind of hear a splashing sound. They look around and here’s this old guy running across the water, walking on the water. He runs up to the boat and says, “Oh stop, stop. I’ve already forgotten what you taught me. Could you give me that prayer again.”